


Acts of Kindness

by tatersalad5001



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (this was for the neutral run zine!), Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Exiled Queen Ending, Slice of Life, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-04 01:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17889116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatersalad5001/pseuds/tatersalad5001
Summary: The king was dead, monsters were gone, turned to dust. Toriel’s policies were rejected and she was exiled to the Ruins. Once she left the throne, Undyne took charge with an aggression and hatred the monarchy had lacked. But if there was one good thing to come of it all, perhaps it was the forging of new friendships.Toriel and Sans had met and exchanged jokes and promises on either side of the Ruins door, but hearing each other and seeing each other were two entirely different things. Papyrus and Toriel had heard of about each other but had never even spoken. Now the three of them lived together in the Ruins, and the situation could’ve been much worse, all things considered.





	Acts of Kindness

**Author's Note:**

> It's here! It's here!!! I wrote this awhile back for the Undertale Neutral Run Zine, [You're Pretty Bad At Being Evil](https://neutralzine.tumblr.com/post/182986530404/the-neutral-run-zine-is-here-featuring-many), awhile back. And now the zine's out! I'm so excited! I wanted to hold off on posting this until the zine was finished. Everyone's work for the zine is really good, so I highly recommending checking it out! It's free, and you won't regret it.
> 
> This one's based around one of the neutral endings where Toriel is exiled and Undyne takes over. Toriel, Papyrus, and Undyne all survived this one, though... I can't say I remember about Mettaton or Alphys, or if that factors much into here. But this ending, with Undyne and Papyrus' surivival, means ten or more other monsters died; I believe I imagined here that the human killed most of the non-boss monsters, but don't quote me on that. I wanted to focus on the despair involved with endings like this, where many monsters are gone, even if not necessarily many that the characters focused on knew personally, and the sort of conflict between some of the remaining monsters having befriended the human and missing them, wanting to see them again, but the human's also killed before; what's stopping them from killing more monsters if they come back, it could be just as bad, or even worse. Conflicting emotions, and all that. Because there's dust on your hands...but hey, you spared your friends, so all's well that ends well, right?
> 
> Eventually I want to write more stuff involved with neutral runs again... But now's probably not that time. I have a few other ongoing things I ought to finish up first. It's been a long time since I've done anything with neutral runs; I used to write quite a bit for the Queen Alphys ending, and I wanna do more of that again, too. Eventually. This was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed being part of the zine, and everyone's stuff is so good! (Seriously...check out the zine!)
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope y'all enjoy!

The king was dead, monsters were gone, turned to dust. Toriel’s policies were rejected and she was exiled to the Ruins. Once she left the throne, Undyne took charge with an aggression and hatred the monarchy had lacked. But if there was one good thing to come of it all, perhaps it was the forging of new friendships.

Toriel and Sans had met and exchanged jokes and promises on either side of the Ruins door, but hearing each other and seeing each other were two entirely different things. Papyrus and Toriel had heard of about each other but had never even spoken. Now the three of them lived together in the Ruins, and the situation could’ve been much worse, all things considered.

Sans and Papyrus teamed up to make sure Toriel got some fresh air once in awhile. Sans and Toriel annoyed Papyrus with their puns. And Toriel and Papyrus shared an enjoyment (or passion, in Papyrus’ case) of puzzle maintenance and recalibration.

The puzzles Papyrus had maintained in the past in Snowdin were meant to capture humans, but puzzles in the Ruins were less malicious. Rather than halt humans, they helped acclimate humans to monster culture. Once Toriel was able to help Papyrus warm up to the Ruins’ puzzles, the two liked to go out and check on them often. Occasionally, Sans was dragged along as well, as he was this time.

“And it’s important to make sure the puzzles are working properly,” Toriel was saying as the three of them walked to the closest puzzle, one that involved hidden buttons and switching perspectives. “A human could fall at any time.”

Humans were a common topic among the in with her. It wasn’t good for her to keep herself trapped there, not letting herself leave so that she could try to make up for her mistakes. Sans and Papyrus did their best to try to get her out whenever they could, to take a break and get some fresh air, but she wouldn’t leave unless at least one of them stayed behind, just in case.

“OH, I HOPE IT’S SOON! I CAN’T WAIT TO BE A MOM!” Papyrus replied.

“I am excited as well. It has...been some time since the last human fell, hasn’t it?” Toriel reflected.

"TOO LONG, I THINK!" Papyrus said. "I HOPE WE CAN SEE THEM AGAIN SOON."

It had been awhile, hadn't it? Sans stopped at that, lost in his thoughts. There wasn't much chance of the barrier being broken any time soon. Seeing the human again on the surface was unlikely. Any human could fall into the Underground, however, so the human returning was a possibility. And if they did? Sans could hazard a guess at that.

Toriel and Papyrus soon noticed Sans' pause, and they both stopped in their tracks as well.

"Sans? Are you alright?" Toriel asked.

"...would it be such a good thing if the kid came back?" Sans asked. "i mean, look at what happened this time.” Did he need to say anymore than that? In another time, maybe, he would’ve tried to protect either or both of them from the truth, but there wasn’t much point in that now. Toriel and Papyrus had both seen what was left from the last time any of them had seen the human.

Toriel sighed. “Perhaps that is my own fault,” she admitted. “I told them to show me they had what it took to survive outside the Ruins. I told them if they left, they would die. Perhaps they were just reacting to what I said back then.”

Sans shook his head. “you were just trying to make sure they would be safe. they’re just a kid,” he told her. “since they were a kid, they couldn’t be much stronger than the average human, either. any of them would be capable of the same.”

“WE DON’T KNOW THAT THEY’RE ALL LIKE THAT,” Papyrus protested.

“we don’t know that they aren’t,” Sans countered. He stared down at his feet. “how do we know that the next human who falls won’t do the same thing? how do we know that the human won’t do it all again, if they come back?” The questions were all pouring out from him at once, and now he’d started, he couldn’t stop. “i know we’re looking out for a human so we can help them if they fall down here again, but why should we if they’re just going to fight? it doesn’t even matter if they don’t. the second they leave the ruins, undyne’ll try to take ‘em down. i don’t even think hotland’s heat would stop her next time. it’s pointless.”

Once he stopped, Sans took a deep breath. He hadn’t meant for it to all come out like that. Not when Toriel and Papyrus had worries of their own. The last thing he wanted was to drag them down with him, down into worries that had been bothering him since he’d moved into the Ruins.

“It is not pointless.”

Sans looked up at Toriel’s words.

“We cannot judge a human we haven’t met yet,” Toriel said. She put a paw on one of Sans’ shoulders. “It’s true, the next human we meet could do just as much damage, or even more. But they could be kind, and show compassion to every monster they meet. They could die as soon as they reach the forest outside, or they could find a way to survive even Undyne’s attacks. We won’t know until we meet them. The same goes for the last human we met. We know what they did while they were here, but not what has happened to them since. They may have changed, or they could change in the future. They could fall again and choose to be kind. The human, any human, deserves a chance, or even a second chance. They deserve our help and kindness.”

“I THINK, PERSONALLY, THAT THE HUMAN WILL CHANGE IF THEY HAVEN’T ALREADY!” Papyrus added. “THE GREAT PAPYRUS ALWAYS HAS, AND ALWAYS WILL, BELIEVE IN THEM! AFTER ALL, THEY ARE ONE OF MY GREAT AND WONDERFUL FRIENDS. THEY ARE FAR FROM THE WORST PERSON OUT THERE. AND EVEN THE WORST PEOPLE CAN CHANGE IF THEY PUT SOME BACKBONE INTO IT. IF ANYONE CAN CHOOSE TO BE A BETTER PERSON, IT’S THEM. EVEN IF THEY NEED HELP TO DO IT, PAPYRUS WILL BE HERE TO GUIDE THEM.”

“but if we try to help a human, any human, and they aren’t so nice, it might be too late. both for them to change, and for us to do anything about it,” Sans responded.

“MAYBE NOT. BY LOOKING OUT FOR ANY FALLEN HUMANS, WE HAVE THE ADVANTAGE,” Papyrus argued. “WE GET TO ACT FIRST. AND IF WE SHOW THAT MONSTERS ARE KIND, THEN THE NEXT HUMAN MIGHT DECIDE TO ACT WITH KINDNESS IN RETURN. IF WE MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION, WE COULD HELP THAT HUMAN CHANGE. BUT IF WE TRY TO ATTACK THEM INSTEAD, THEY WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY REACT WITH VIOLENCE.”

“There is a chance that any human will try to pay our kindness forward,” Toriel said. She smiled at Sans. “The chance that they won’t doesn’t change that. Papyrus is right, too. If we try to stop a human from killing before they’ve even had the chance to do so, then we’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy. That is, unless we successfully stop them, but knowing how humans are, I have my doubts that we could. But even ignoring that, no one deserves violence and cruelty directed at them, especially when they’ve done nothing against us.

“It is always worth it to show kindness to others, Sans.”


End file.
